He reviewed the council before him...

An audacious council member spoke up,"The question is: What do we do about it..."

"The surface dwellers' act was no mere accident, and yet they are not altogether at fault..." Elnas said, as he stood, signifying the end of the session...

All but one left the chamber, he approached Elnas...

"Your Eminence... We cannot go against the directive, we must stay out of the affairs of the Galaxy..." The subsidiary voiced his appeal...

Without moving, Elnas answered his plea,"These sith must be stopped, at any cost..."

He approached this orb, touching it with his bare hand, it came to life with brilliant illumination...

The outlook he saw through this sphere was inauspicious...

The prophecy is amiss... the stranger from the future has not come...

Elnas peered more deeply into the orb...

He nearly gasped at his recognition...

This stranger has already made contact... with the savages of the surface...

He now sent out a call, to this stranger, through the orb...

For only this stranger can handle the upcoming threat...

On a planet wide scale, the surface dwellers were taken under authority by the population from below...

This was their punishment... their punishment for their crimes against the galaxy... wrongs that would have to be righted, but not by the governing administration of the Guardians...

But, by someone else... capable of such...

Kamino was now a civilization of two peoples, Kaminoans and Guardians, the latter the administer of power...

Kamino airspace was now closed off to visitors... until the call for manifestation was answered...

Cartina awoke in a sea of pain, and garbage...

Taking the helmet from her head, she wiped a long thread of blood from beneath her nose down her chin...

She placed her helmet back upon her head, Cartina carefully rose to her feet...

Staggering to the restaurant, she slid into the booth she'd occupied only an hour ago...

From underneath the table, Cartina pulled a listening device...

Thoughts collected, She headed straight for The Otana's Rival....

Once inside her ship, she played back the end of the recording...

"We'll meet you at the rendezvous point on the edge of Kamino space then, ok?"

The woman's voice filled the small cockpit...

The ship exited the Sullustan atmosphere, entering the very same vector the Lambda had only an hour ago...

Kamino it is...

The proximity warnings of the Raptor jolted Jasyn from blissful slumber, and slowly he wafted unwillingly to consciousness, knowing that reversion was imminent, knowing that what he was about to attempt was of the utmost importance. Stretching a bit, he was pleased to discover that the majority of his hangover, excepting a little gnawing at his mind, had been slept off.

The starlines of hyperspace reverted to stars, and Jasyn secured orbit a safe distance from the cloning world of Kamino. Then he sat back considering that planet, biting his lip thoughtfully.

Sure hope this trip won't be the death of me...

Sighing at that, Jasyn shook himself from that particular line of thought altogether and turned his eyes to a much clearer navboard.

Then he made the necessary calculations to begin the landing cycle. He wasn't even gonna try stealth at that either; he was a techie, not a pilot...

I decided after about 30 minutes of sitting there watching the starlines stream by with DINK, that I needed some more training for the dangers that may be ahead of me. Why did I agree to go? I don't really have an answer for that, but I do know that GALEN asked me to do something to help her, and fosome reason I just can't say no to that woman!!!

"DINK, are you alright at the helm???"

"OOO-TEE-DEE" he replied again.

"Let it come... be on guard, for it is doubtful this is our savior..."

"Aye, M'lord..."

The Junior Guardian exited Lord Elnas's quarters, and sent word to the once-cloning colony...

Make he feel at home, until evidence is shown to be absent....

Lo Ban's resolve to find Galen's babe, and her uncertainty clouded the cockpit of the Lambda shuttle...

Yet, there was more than that...

Both seemed to pay most attention to their mutual buddy, Malf...

Also, Lo Ban had a nack for distancing beautiful women with stupid actions, and a big mouth...

Keep it together bud, almost there... just watch the furball eat another cockpit adornment you once thought inedible... you're almost there... talk all you want when there are more peeps around... less likely to make a fool...

His train of thought was interrupted as he caught Galen's eyes wander in his direction...

Obvious she didn't like the uncomfortable silence any more than he...

"So... how much time, now?"

Then what DO you like? some little voice of a memory queried.

Jasyn just sighed and sat back as he started the landing cycle, planning to berth the Raptor nearby the facility, but not too close...

Kriffing hell, this means you are going to have to walk in the rain...

The landing gear of the Raptor made contact with ground and she settled her engines to idle. Jasyn waited long enough to let the engines cool, then stood from his seat, taking a moment to stretch then grabbing a satchel of personal belongings before he departed from the Lambda altogether after making sure she was secure and began making his way towards the building in the pouring rain. He really wasn't that far from the bulding, but by the time he got inside he was literally soaked...

...and freezing.

He scowled even more disgustedly, shivering a bit as he was approached by what appeared to be a Kaminoan greeter.

Jasyn didn't miss a beat. "My name is Jasyn Lancaster, and I'd like to speak with someone about a recent cloning project you undertook. It’s of the greatest importance, and I’m willing to wait til someone is available to speak with me if necessary.”

With that Jasyn then simply fell silent as he waited for the Kaminoan’s reply.

I don't know if I could ever get close to anyone again, the thought pushed through the little bit of light-heartedness that was struggling to rise up in me, evoked as Malf tried to nibble on a lightswitch. The humor promptly died, and I sighed.

He's kinda cute, though... and has certainly been a perfect gentleman. Khaandon knows there aren't too many of those about the universe nowadays...

..but he's a Jedi, I answered myself, as if that explained everything.

That thought segued into one who had never been a gentleman in any way, shape or form of the word, and I frowned. There had just been something of the scoundrel in Sorben that had the right combination of charm and darkness to intrigue me....

And then there was Terrin.

I sighed again, my frown deepening.

Another scoundrel, but one turned gentleman. What a surprise, that one. And I had been lucky enough....

I squelched the thought cold, fighting the trembling which now threatened, then rising in my seat and reaching toward Malf.

"Hey furball, that's a proximity alert, it's not edible-- HEY!"

Alarmed, I shot to my feet and went to Malf, taking hold of his arm and by dint of sheer effort -- ok, so he probably let me; he just HAD to have let me! -- pulled him entirely away from the navigation boards and flung him to the back of the lamby amidst the carnage of the doggy bags we had brought with us from Sullust.

"Eat the crumbs, buddy; we're almost to Kamino!"

Shaking my head I went back and plopped in the pilot's seat, casting a sidelong glance toward Lo Ban as I did so. He sat in a peculiar silence of his own, occasionally glancing at me...

...and at that particular moment our gazes crossed... and held.

Another small eternity passed.

Then, my lips trembling, I turned away to the navboard... just in time to see the proximity sensor Malf had tried to eat begin blinking. That roused me quick enough.

"We're coming into Kamino!" I called, even as space reverted to realtime around us. Then I was too busy to even think anymore, as I simultaneously sent a transmission out to Shimmering Scimitar that Dash would know where to land... and proceeded to descend through the wicked atmosphere Kamino possessed.

Soon the Capital City hove into a murky view... and just beyond it, the smaller stilt city where Sorben and I had feigned our shipwreck. At least I knew the Greeter of that city; and so, it was to that particular construct that I headed.

I brought the lamby to a somewhat shaky landing, what with the buffeting of the winds and the lashing of the rain. Then I popped the hatch.

"Let's go!" I said succinctly, and headed out. I wasn't disappointed; as I neared the primary entrance into this stilt city the door slid smoothly open, revealing a foyer of glittering white which dazzled the eye all the more for the depth of darkness we had just come in from. Framed in the doorway was the Greeter who had leant me the privacy of her quarters... for a price; gads but I hoped she was still as willing to earn an easy credit as she had been before.

She bowed her head to me in greeting, and politely inquired what it was that brought me back to their city.

At least she remembers me, I thought, then went into a brief explanation of how there were two others in our party yet coming, and I hadn't forgotten her earlier hospitality toward me, and wondered if she would be so kind as to repeat the gesture. My hand slipped down to surreptitiously jingle my credit pouch as I talked, and lo and behold her eyes glittered most un-scientifically.

I smiled and fell silent, knowing we at least had the privacy of her home. I decided to go no further than that, and merely waited for either Dash to show up, or for Lo Ban to add in his two credit's worth, if he chose to do so.

She took him into what seemed to be a waiting room...

"Please, wait here..." She said, as a seat appeared from the whiteness of above...

The Guardian left the room,"It is not he..." She said into a wall comm...

Lord Elnas's Chamber...

"It is not he..."

Elnas closed the connection, taking a seat...

Not he...

At that moment, Lord Elnas was alerted of two more ships entering the Kaminoan atmosphere...

On a city not entirely important enough for the Guardian military to take the surface dwellers under constant watch...

"Send reinforcements to take them... send them to the quarters our first guest awaits..."

"I'll get it..." He said, fully expecting Dash to be on the other side...

Guardians were in every city, though they were silent observers in ones without scientific purpose...

Lo Ban opened the door...

He was met by two heavily armed, and substantially short, Kaminoans...

"Yes?"

"You are to come with us..." the Guardian said, sounding as much like a storm trooper as Kaminoanly possible...

Lo Ban's first reaction was to comply, but he turned to Galen for acknowledgment...

My jaw dropped.

How did they know we were there? I thought I had paid the Greeter what Sorben had first bribed her with; perhaps I should have tossed her a little more, considering she was to be on the lookout for the other two in our party....

Be that as it may, there was no use crying over spilled jawa juice now. The fact of the matter was that here the two goons were -- er, as "goony" as a Kaminoan could be, at least -- and we were apparently to go with them someplace.

I cut my eyes to Lo Ban, a touch worried. He on the other hand seemed perfectly at ease.

Why shouldn't he? the thought pressed into existence. He's a Jedi; he'll keep a finger on top of things, so don't worry Galen ol' gal, there's nothing to worry about, see? He doesn't look worried one bit.

In fact the ones who ought to be worried were the Kaminoans. I finished silently as Malf came up with a questioning little purr.

They're going to have Malf's stomach to deal with if there's anything worrisome lurking in the corners of outward appearances....

With that I sent Lo Ban a little look, and sidled a tad closer to him.

Lead on, MacDuff....

The Guardian warriors led the party of three to a nearby transport...

"I'm sure Dash and the Jawa will find they're way..." Lo Ban whispered to Galen, attempting to put her mind at ease...

The transport landed on a pad... now shared with the Raptor...

The guards were the first to enter the rain, Lo Ban let Galen pass him... he draped his top robe cover over her head... making the perfect raincoat...

Doing thus, revealed his lightsaber hilt...

The three exited the transport, stopping in their tracks as the Kaminoans began shouting in a foreign tongue......

Dark Jedi weaponry!!!

Their weapons were then charged... two saber blades apiece, one in each hand...

Lo Ban quickly took his lightsaber from his waste, yelling for Galen to get the hell into the transport...

Throwing a protein bar into the transport, Malf was happy to jump away from the action about to take place, carrying Galen with him...

The Guardians converged on Lo Ban, he stood at a defensive stance... waiting...

Rain was a new element for Lo Ban, but even more so for the earth dwelling Guardians...

The first came against Lo Ban's left side, he quickly parried and slashed at the Guardian to his right...

This would go on a few more times, then Lo Ban found a weakness...

The first Guardian went down... there was one left...

"Give up..." Lo Ban said, panting slowly...

The Guardian simply grunted...

Charging Lo Ban, he chose to use the poison edge of his remaining Saber Blade...

This was not successful, as Lo Ban sidestepped the exhausted attempt... the blade merely cutting into his attire, he sliced his lightsaber into the outside metallic band of the saber blade...

The plasma flow of the saber blade was exposed, it exploded with great fury...

The blast killed the Guardian immediately, throwing Lo Ban 10 meters into the side of the Raptor...

The warriors were great, Lo Ban was much better...

Then I saw the fireworks, and heard the awful sizzle of... something exploding, followed by a tremendous and horrific thunk I could almost feel myself as something came flying out of that momentary brilliance and impacted the side of the lambda. And when I saw what, or rather who it was....

I redoubled my efforts.

"Lemme go, Malf!" I shouted, kicking and wriggling and hitting him ineffectively with both fists. He just kept heading on into the transport, hopefully to find somewhere to place me out of harm's way.

Then I can go....

But, no. He just came to the end and stopped, with me still draped over his shoulder.

Now I was way beyond furious and into near panic, for enough time had passed that Lo Ban should have entered the transport. No one so much as peeped a nose in, which went a long way toward justifying my sneaking suspicion that the two goons were maybe down for the count....

But what about Lo Ban?

"Malf, I think he's hurt! Lemme go!" I hollered, and wiggled all the more fiercely. That at least captured the furball's attention; he pivoted and stumped back the way he had come, halting in the entry to the transport.

I peered out into the driving rain, only to see what I feared I might: the crumpled form of Lo Ban laying on the rain-pocked duracrete. My efforts to free myself quadrupled, and with a garbling sort of moan Malf finally relented and placed me on my feet.

I raced to Lo Ban's side, and gently turned him over. The only outward indication of injury that I could see was a great reddening area on his forehead, which was slowly beginning to rise. I winced and touched it lightly; that had to hurt, and clearly showed what part of his anatomy had stopped his forward projection against the shuttle.

Quickly I patted him all over, and found nothing broken... thank Khaandon. But that rising lump had me worried.

I looked up at Malf, rain cascading all around, wetting my hair against me until tendrils of it fell limp and dripping into my eyes. "Malf!" I cried out, still kneeling beside the fallen jedi. "Help me get him into the lambda, quick!"

I then turned my worried gaze back to Lo Ban.

Great Khaandon's ghost, Lo Ban! Please be all right....

"II'm okk... I'm ok... are they gone?" He asked, knowing it would be nearly impossible for him to do anything about it if they weren't...

"Help me up... I'll take care of the rest..." He said, attempting to move... his lightsaber no where near within his grasp...

"Is Malf ok?? Are you ok?!" The blind Lo Ban went on, waiting for replies...

He's going to be all right....

I jerked at the realization of the particular tense in which I had expressed that particular verb. Indeed, it was clear that he would be all right... but at the moment he was anything but, no matter what he tried to lead us to believe. The fact that he couldn't see diddly was evident by the manner in which he was surreptitiously holding out his hand for his saber... and not instinctively looking toward that hand as the weapon proceeded to nestle there in obedience to the command.

I hollered over my shoulder for Malf to quit daydreaming, and hunkered over Lo Ban, my hands quietly pressing him back to sit down upon the wet duracrete. With him being unable to see anything, I didn't want him hurting himself further. I sank down on my knees to steady my own stance, and pushed lightly against his chest.

"I'm right here, Lo Ban, and Malf is coming," I said, rain dripping down my face and into my mouth. "You eliminated the two goons, but I don't know how long we'll be safe. I think we'd better take one of these two vehicles and skedaddle while the skedaddling is good...."

It was only then that I caught a glimpse of the name enscribed upon the hull of the lambdy:

Raptor.

comfortable?! on wet duracrete, and the pain emitting from your forehead?!

The forehead...

The pain...

I can't see!!

Lo Ban would have jumped out of his skin at this realization, had Galen not held a supportive hand to his chest...

The pain was taking over... yet, Galen's voice... and her lovely aroma kept him conscious...

He hadn't noticed these things about Galen earlier...

Much more than red hair, and a pair of the deepest browns in the galaxy...

He reached a hand out, to return Galen's gesture... finding her, he lightly squeezed her shoulder, at least he thought it was her shoulder...

As if to say everything would be all right...

A funny thing, when bad things turn out for the better...

Then the subject of warmth was a moot one as Malf lumbered over and swept Lo Ban into his hairy arms. He stood there holding him, garbling at me in a questioning tone of voice, clearly asking me what he should do with him.

It didn't take me long to make a choice.

"Let's borrow this lambda and get back to mine," I decided, getting to my feet and approaching the shuttle. The hatch slid obligingly open, and I stood to one side as Malf carried Lo Ban inside and laid him gently across a couple seats. Then he hunkered against the back and gave vent to his distress about the situation in general; apparently he hated getting his fur wet.

"We're outta here!" I announced, sending the Raptor on its short jaunt to the stilt city where we had landed. Moments later and we had settled nicely enough next to my lambda, and but moments thereafter had transferred ourselves into it and departed the landing pad altogether.

As we were leaving I caught glimpse of the incoming Scimitar; before Dash could land and find himself in possible dire straits, I commed and told him of how our first choice of plans had been changed for us. Giving him a set of coordinates where he was to meet us, I closed the link and concentrated on getting us away from Kamino's gravity well.

It was only when we were safely away that I put the shuttle into autodrive, and turned back to see how Lo Ban was faring. I went over to him and knelt beside him.

"How are you doing?" I asked anxiously, placing a hand on his arm to give him what little comfort that I could.

"Where are we?" He asked, as he sensed Galen leave his side... to fetch water, no doubt...

"That depends," I answered, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "How bad do you feel? You don't look particularly awful, except for this lump on your head the size of a krayt dragon pearl...."

Then again, you never did look really bad, y'know?

"I think the swelling has stopped..." Lo Ban said, as Galen's hand slipped... causing his head to hit the seat a little harder than he wanted...

"well, it did..." He said through the pain, almost laughing...

"I'm glad you look better than I feel..." He said with a smile, still a small amount of pain evident...

The glass hit the deck, the remaining water spilling around me -- yet somehow not soaking up into the strange material of the Sith flightsuit I was still wearing -- as I instinctively grabbed Lo Ban's face with both hands. True the gesture didn't do much toward stopping his head from bouncing against the seat; I hoped after the fact that my reaction would prove it was merely an accident.

There I paused, my hands on either of Lo Ban's cheeks, suddenly flushed.

Another eternity passed.

"Jedi, heal thyself," I finally managed in a very small voice, wanting him well and whole again and as soon as possible. To my great surprise I found myself still holding his face, even after the fact struck that we had both been silent for well on to a full minute or two.

She started to take her hands from their seemingly new resting place on his cheeks..

He suddenly stopped her from doing so... and simply, lightly held her hands so...

Slowly caressing her right radius with his thumb...

He waited if and when she would easily release from his gentle touch...

Eternity itself froze.

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

The shuttle faded away as my vision narrowed to two tiny slits in the face I held in my cupped hands, slits through which a pair of electric blue eyes strove to see... my senses blocking out everything around me save for the utterly unexpected jolt which raced up my arm from where his thumb was lightly caressing the inside of my wrist, the light grip on them both, the almost hesitant feeling behind that one small motion on the part of Lo Ban which said so much, so very much.

DAMMIT.

It wasn't supposed to happen. It just couldn't happen, could it? I was lonely, right? Lonely, and fighting a big, bad universe all on my own now, hunting for my daughter, then here comes Knight in Shining Armor, right? That was it, wasn't it?

He's a Jedi! They can't DO this...!

I almost convinced myself....

I might have murmured something, hell if I know. All I did know was that I was suddenly drawn down to him like a magnet, my lips lightly brushing his.

Behind me Malf roared, although whether in approval, hunger, dismay or a combination of all three, I really didn't know.

The only pain Lo Ban now held came from his lips...

And, yet, it was a pain of frustration...

Coming from the one that had lightly planted the kiss...

You can't do this... she's obviously lonely... yet her strength persists... she knows what she's doing... she wants this as much as we do...

Lo Ban compromised, finishing the light kiss with a small forcefulness of his own two lips...

He took her person closer to his body, holding her in a supportive embrace...

I trembled in his arms, feeling his grip tighten about me in response.

What else could I do? I just pressed myself against him more tightly, at least as much as I could considering he was half prone across two seats and I was kneeling on the floor beside him. My hands pressed into his back, relishing the feel of the soft homespun of his robes.

His Jedi robes, Galen... JEDI.

I closed my eyes, ignoring that, and just waited while around me the lambda muttered and whiffled to itself as it continued on through the darkling void, a fragile shell against that Night which held inside of itself something much more fragile....

The swelling down far enough, he took a look through the pools that were his eyes...

He sat up, lifting Galen with him...

Lo Ban now had a chance to look into those deep browns, the temptation they represented...

Lo Ban could not hold back for the life of him... he stood, now nearly towering over the shorter Galen, he never let loose his gaze...

He came down to lay a passionate kiss on her lips, not daring to loose his focus within her gaze...

He moved his hand down Galen's back, and up again...

I couldn't stop myself if I tried. I didn't know what I was feeling, what he was feeling, if indeed either of us was feeling anything but the one emotion that great wave was flooding throughout me with the force of a tsunami, and that was a great yet somehow simple need.

Everything else faded into insignificance before that need, and I reached up my arms, tightening my grip around the back of Lo Ban's head, pulling his lips more fiercely against mine even as I pulled him down with me to the deck of the lambda.

Gradually the interior of the shuttle blurred into focus as reality returned to me, taking me from that wonderful place I had found myself and back into the awareness of where we were.

Something red was flashing somewhere, reflecting off the bulkheads; I blinked, momentarily distracted. Then I returned my gaze to that which had taken it up when reality had come swimming back into focus.

A pair of electric blue eyes were staring at me, as well as they could do so for the swollen lids encompassing them and the swollen forehead above. But the smile beneath them was unimpeded, and quite real. I couldn't determine the rest of Lo Ban's expression; jedi are very good when it comes to their feelings and command thereof.

As well as when it comes to expressing those feelings, and the connection they have the uncanny knack of making with others.

Damn.

I smiled back, reaching a finger out to lightly trace a line down his cheek. Confusion raced rampant through me, but one thing was certain: I didn't want him to think badly of me for the loss of control I had just exhibited.

I told him as much, still laying there on the deck and making no move to get up and re-attire myself, even though the proximity sensor was blaring in a rather impertinent voice that we had way overshot the coordinates I had programmed into the navboard, and would somebody please come and do something about it?

In the background, the sounds of Malf's gentle snores gave me a modicum of relief as to what the big furball had been up to during my unexpected interlude with Lo Ban.

Damn aliens. Can't even give a guy a towel to dry off, he thought, scowling and folding his arms as he continued to pace, trying to warm himself up.

Sure could use a drink about now... some little voice insisted.

The scowl on Jasyn's face grew. Not AGAIN Jasyn Lancaster. Sheesh...

He hugged his arms to himself a little more.

There seemed to be two ships in the system, Cartina wasn't ready to show herself, she piloted down through the rain of Kamino...

She came to a platform occupied by a small transport...

This platform was filled with two dead bodies, and several broken weapons...

She made her way inside, Bryar pistol ready...

Cartina heard someone coming down the corridor, she jumped into the first unlocked room...

The very same as one cold and wet, waiting man...

Gee, a bounty hunter wearing madalorian armor. Where have you seen THAT before buddy...?

Jasyn reacted in a heartbeat, grabbing his blaster from the holster, water dripping from it, and aiming it. He didn't take the time to figure out if it was on stun or kill, but rather just squeezed the trigger. Too bad the blaster was so wet it had manulfunctioned...

...no fire, no stun, nada.

"Uhhhh..." Jasyn started, still holding the blaster out.

Wow...you are being so brillant right now... a shoulder-devil then snickered. Jasyn scowled.

Then, as if just realizing he had the blaster in his hand at all, he reholstered it. Water dripped out of the barrel as he did so.

He turned his eyes to the bounty hunter again and strove to make his expression as unreadable as possible, trying his best to appear as though he was right where he was supposed to be.

Try to be diplomatic Jasyn. Maybe this isn't what it looks like...

"Are you the one I was sent here to wait for?" he queried, hearing distant footsteps approaching down the hall.

Ok, maybe not...

...this CAN'T be good...

certain regrets...

No matter how small, he wished to ease them...

"Sometimes passion can only result, when you loose control of the situation... passion is one emotion we can't live without, Galen darling... not even I, a padawan..." He used the term loosely, then continued,"not even I could hold back from temptation... your beauty is only exceeded by your caring bed side manner..." he quipped...

"...those lips..." He kissed them...

"...that neck..." He caressed kisses down her neck, her scent intoxicating...

For, in fact, Galen is as Dash was to her...

In fact, Cartina wasn't even aiming her blaster...

Although, as soon as this became apparent she drew it up again...

"Follow me..." She said in the masculine voice of the helmet...

She motioned him to exit the room first... Cartina led him out in the rain, and into The Otana's Rival...

It was then when things got out of hand...

A strange energy pulse hit the ship, knocking both Cartina and Jasyn out cold...

They awoke in what seemed to be a holding facility...

Jasyn was now dry, and Cartina was still clad in armor...

A pain I knew would never be erased, due to the death of someone whose footsteps across my heart could never be filled, but perhaps walked beside in a manner unique to a new owner of said feet.

--even as the butterfly touch of his lips utterly electrified me, flicking from my lips to my neck.

Emotions rose and sang. Further confusion added its voice. Logic tried to get into the fray. And all the while the proximity sensor bleeped and flared, and Malf garbled and snored, and I just reached my arms around Lo Ban's neck and let myself go in face of the utter impossibility of the moment.

Passion indeed. How very, very right he was, the thought managed to rise above all the others jangling around in my brain.

And who indeed would understand the truest, deepest sense of the word better than a jedi? Ok, a padawan... I amended simply, holding him fiercely to me with the realization that it was this passion that indeed had been missing in my life, even with Sorben, certainly with Terrin.

He kissed the very top of her head, the fiery red hair enchanted him...

This felt so right, she felt so right...

How could he ever let go of this moment, of her...

Now his mind clouded with thoughts of her despair she had told him when they reunited on Sullust...

He felt the tears run down his chest, tears somehow he knew to be more so of joy and release...

He took her away from his body, peering deep into the her watery browns...

"You're beautiful Galen... we now share this burden..." He brought her forehead to a rest against his, the gaze never breaking...

We.

Somehow, somewhere I had gone from singular to plural....

There was another in my life, another to share, to excite, to wonder in. How could this happen? I really hadn't thought it could again, had taken for granted that it wouldn't.

Then I recalled Lo Ban's words about passion, and realized how deep a meaning that word really did hold. It was not so much the mere biological reaction of one gender to another, but rather the glorious display of life itself, and all it carried: all the wonder and beauty and eternity of it, yes, and even the heartache and the pain.

Passion, the offspring of life meant growth. And in growing, new life could thus be found.

It was as easy as that.

I blinked, losing myself in this new wonder, savoring the simplicity of the word we again and knowing I was a half of something more than a whole. Wondering how I managed to be so lucky, enthralled by the sheer manner in which life had seemed to do its utmost to lead right up to this one exquisite moment.

I pulled his head down for a kiss in which I tried my damnedest to express all the above. Then, literally shuddering with the effort, I pulled back.

Life stretched forward in eternity for us....

But now... but now....

"I-- I think we'd better think about how we're going to get Darra," I finally whispered, my eyes scant centimeters from his wonderful blue ones, blocked though they might be.

He expressed this through his expression of relief, she did what he could not...

And, perhaps he even thanked her aloud...

He really didn't notice, or care about anything but keeping this little lady as happy as she seemed moments before...

For the rest of their lives, if she'd eventually give in to such...

He thought to himself, as she walked away...

Wowsers, she looks better going than she does coming...

A smile crossed his features...

I jerked myself from the insidious approach of another daydream, focusing on the controls again.

There is a time and a place, Galen ol' girl, just like Daddy used to say....

"I'll get us back to the rendezvous, and then we'll give Dash a little time to find us," I announced as I put action to the words. "Then we'd better figure out how in Hell's Seven Circles we're going to get into wherever it is they're hiding Darra on Kamino."

I paused at that, swiveling around in my seat to send a concerned look Lo Ban's way.

Damn those blue eyes....

I gulped that reaction away, continued on after the merest hesitation.

"Why would the Kaminoans treat us like that anyway?" I asked him, recalling the way I was treated the first time I had come here with Sorben, and the second time as well when I had ordered my clones. Being treated as a sudden criminal just seemed too... weird.

"I don't know, babe... but I intend to find out... your guess is an educated one, as this is my first visit to the mysterious cloning world... rest assured, they will pay for their actions... I sense your... Darra is still alive, I will not rest until she is safely in your arms..." He stopped at that, the words causing Galen to instinctively turn back to the controls...

He hugged her from behind, laying a loving kiss on the inside of her collarbone...

All over, in fact.

Smiling, I turned round, meeting his eyes -- which were becoming more and more apparent as the swelling reduced, seemingly by the second; nice trick these force users have when it comes to injuries -- and falling into them.

"I believe you, Lo Ban," I said softly, simply. "Somehow, I sensed how earnest you were about this when you first showed up on Sullust."

For a moment my smile broadened to a grin as memory of just how he had arrived there burst into my thoughts. Then my eyes widened, and I glanced down at myself.

Now my grin was more like a little smirk.

"Perhaps we'd better get dressed before Dash finds us, not to mention Sleeping Beauty over there," I nodded toward the grumbling Malf, who twitched in delta-sleep long enough to scratch his hairy armpit.

I stood up, stepping aside from my seat.

I touched down at the rendezvous point... I figured I'd better get some air, and apparently a little rain as well. "DINK, you coming? Let's go get some air. They must have gotten lost too. We can wait for them here."

We departed the SHIMMERING SCIMITAR, only to find a welcoming comittee.

I whispered to DINK, "I've never even been here before, I don't know what these people are like, be on your guard."
Instinctively I reached for my LIGHTSABER with my right hand, and my blaster with my left, being careful to conceal my motions. DINK prepared for the worst as well. I watched as he pulled out a very odd looking blaster, careful also to keep his actions hidden from the 'WELCOMEING COMMITTEE'!

"Well met." I said to the two human sized creatures who walked toward us.

"The only thing you'll meet here is an untimely death!" one of the men said as he came at me with a VIBRO-AXE.

My purple blade sprung to life, just in time too... I managed to cut the VIBRO-AXE in two as it came at me, I still got hit, but there was no force behind the falling top half of the weapon. I recoiled in pain as my left arm absorbed the follow through of the severed shaft the man still held in his hands. My blaster flew over the egde of the landing bay.

DINK seemed to be fareing a wee bit better than I was at the moment, the second man, armed the same as the one on me, seemed bound to ... well... himself! I had heard a ZZAPP!!!, but I thought the guard had fired on poor little DINK. I was wrong, DINK actually got off the first shot! And what a little device he fired off. The MAGNETO RAY aparently makes you into a GIANT magnet, and you stick to anything metal, or in this case anything metal sticks to you. So the attacker was subdued for now. Too bad the MAGNETO RAY takes 10 minutes to charge between shots!

The attacker on me, began taking 'pot-shots' at me, I did my best to deflect the shots.

I deflected 4 out of the 5 he had shot, I took another hit, in left shoulder this time. Suddenly something inside me took over, I stood up, not feeling any pain, and began advancing on the aggressor, delfecting the blaster shots the whole time.
I felt all tingelly inside, like someone was controlling my actions. For now it seemed to be helping, so I gave over full control of my body to.... my subconscious!?! I ducked and darted towards my attacker, with the precision movements of a JEDI KNIGHT! And with a mighty swing of my LIGHTSABER it was over... for now! I slumped to the ground, suddenly in total control of my body again, delerious with pain and agony! The last thing I saw was DINK, standing over me...

Ahhhhh...a holding cell. Now THIS is certainly familiar...

And...

He frowned, shooting a look at the quiet bounty hunter. Or at least the quiet somebody in mandalorian armor. He regarded said bounty hunter for a long moment with his broody browns, pondering the strangeness of the situation. Then he finally spoke. "Let me take a guess that these guys didn't expect you here either..."

He quieted at that, not quite sure what else to say at a time like this. He took another look at their surroundings, scowling a bit.

A holding cell...AGAIN...?!

Then he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I vote we get the hell out of here..."

He didn't know if anyone was listening in...

...and at the moment, he didn't particularly care. That bad feeling of his...

...well, it was growing into something gigantic with each passing moment...

...and he didn't particularly want to be around when it exploded...

"How, exactly, do you plan on doing that?" The hunter asked...

...when he finally realized that his blaster was gone and theat the hunter seemed to be stripped of his weapons as well.

Jasyn just scowled more blackly, leaning against a wall. Fine, take the damn blaster! It was broken anyway! he thought angrily.

Then, Here I am again, in a holding cell, with no weapons, and with another person...

...but at least the last time I was with a person I actually knew...

At that thought Jasyn's look actually darkened to something unreadable. Then he flicked his browns back towards the bounty hunter, the look in his eye still somewhat vague, but somewhat sadder, not totally unbeknownst to himself. "Allright, scratch that then..." he muttered, trying to appear a bit light hearted.

It wasn't working.

Dammit, you are gonna die here on Kamino with a person you don't even know...

"Look, if we're gonna be waiting here a while..."

He paused, chewing the corner of his lip. Then he continued, refraining from blurting out You mind telling me who the hell you are?! and instead saying, "we might as well start with names. I'm Jasyn, Jasyn Lancaster. Any idea what the hell just happened to us?"

He quieted then with that, frowning, trying to recall just what in fact had happened all the while...

Nada. Not so much as a handy lil ol rogue comet trundling by, wagging its tail as it went.

At length I pulled back from the console with an exasperated sigh, and struck it with both fists. The ominous silence just didn't bode good, and I could only think of two explanations for it.

One: Dash had changed his mind about assisting us. That, however, just didn't seem right, since he had after all been careening into Kamino as we were leaving. Unless he himself had some secretive purpose to be on that remote and storm-driven planet, then he had indeed been following through on being there to help us.

And two: in following through, something dire had happened... and he had never left.

I turned in my seat, and sent Lo Ban a worried look.

"I just don't see him anywhere," I finally said, tweaking the controls to get another quarter parsec's sensing out of them. No dice. Space remained as empty as... well, as space.

I pursed my lips, frowning.

"You don't suppose those goonies who attacked us got him, and he's in trouble on Kamino?" I asked him. Then I fell silent, waiting for his input.

"You know what has to be done, babe... we'll have to head back there either way..."

They would to head back to Kamino, to investigate...

It was so nice to hear something like that again... it had been so long, so achingly long....

I raised my eyes to those luscious electric blue ones he possessed, and stared into them for a long moment. Then I made myself break away, and turned back to the console.

"You're right, love... and I guess there's no better time for it than the present."

I played a symphony on the console, and the lambda developed wings. In no time at all we were soaring back into Kaminoan space, and me with the return endearment I had spoken still lingering on my tongue. True, it may have been out of place for the moment, but I wanted to try it out, to see how it tasted there.

It tasted just fine...

I smiled a little more broadly as Kamino grew in our forward screens, then hunkered over the controls like a vulture over its victim. Quickly scanning, I found the remnants of Scimitar's heat ghost she left as she swooped down through the ever present rain, and soon thereafter picked up a series of faint distress calls, inexpertly broadcast on a very wide bandwidth.

Bingo. She had headed straight on course to our original rendezvous on the smaller, "suburban" stilt city platform.

My lips thinned into a line of determination then, as I wondered just how he managed to NOT receive the transmission I had sent. I couldn't help but come to one conclusion: that he had been jammed, and simply hadn't received it.

The shuttle rocked and rolled as the deeper we descended the thicker -- and stormier -- the atmosphere became. It wasn't too long before a familiar construct loomed out of the murk.

"Here we go again..."

Holding the controls with both hands and yelling aft that everyone buckle in, we slammed down at last on the landing platform of the little stilt city, right next to another lamby that was just sitting there looking forlornly familiar. And not too far from it was a crumpled and rain-splashed form half sticking out of an obviously cobbled-together rainbreak of sorts.

Here we go again, indeed...!

Lo Ban came over the still form of Dash, disregarding the Jawa...

He lifted Dash into his arms,"Where should we take him?" He asked over the hard downpour, finding it difficult to keep the water out of his mouth...

He waited for Galen to direct him to Dash's ship, or back to the Lambda...

One thing he was sure of... they couldn't stay on the platform much longer...

"Let's just get him aboard the lamby for now. I don't want to appear to be taking his ship from him, and we can't stay here long!"

I couldn't help but slide my eyes to the entryway into the stilt city, which so far was remaining blessedly quiet.

"We'll take off and decide what to do; then we can come back and get his ship later if need be."

Sure didn't seem like they were mucking about with the ships at any rate, for there sat "Raptor," just as we had left her.

"C'mon!" I yelled over the driving rain, now turning and running back aboard the ship. Pounding footsteps behind me bespoke of Lo Ban's arrival with the silent Dash, and the pitter pat of tinier feet bespoke of... well, of someone else tagging along for the ride.

I stared at the jawa in bewilderment.

Oh, this just keeps on getting better and better!

Then I threw myself into the pilot's seat, and we were off. It was only after we had finally reached the haven of space... and hyperspace this time, that I sat back in my seat, letting out a little sigh of relief.

Then I tensed, bracing for the inevitable slap of pheromones to come driving into me.

Lo Ban sweets, forgive me if I drool... I can't help myself!

But much to my surprise, the impact was not only bearable... it was miniscule.

I sighed in relief at that... then smiled, for quite suddenly I knew why. And it was a good thing that Lo Ban was busy at the moment with our unconscious guest, or he just might have noticed that look in my eye as realization hit, and--

I turned back to the console, to drop us from hyperspace and slowly brought us to a halt. Then I rose and went to the back, to see how Dash was faring and if there was anything I could do to help.

And from the back of the lambda there came a great and garbling roar... followed by a strange and thinly uttered, "OOO-TEE-DEE!"

She was right about the direness of the situation, as well...

Once more, proof that she was much MUCH more than a pair of deep browns and a hot set of... hair...

Hyperspace

Lo Ban tended to Dash's wounds, as best he could... for that brief part of his training was dealt to him by one Shayla Stargazer, and his patient was none other than Sorben Tarnus...

Unknown to him, another of Galen's ex-husbands...

Yet, none of this came to the surface of Lo Ban's thoughts... he simply couldn't take his mind off Galen...

...but then, who was I to judge how a blue-skinned individual is supposed to look? For all I knew he came from a hot planet and blue meant he was cold, and his normal color was green or fuschia. I laid a light hand on Lo Ban's shoulder and for a moment just stood there.

"How is he?" I asked at length. "You're the jedi; do you think he's going to be ok, or do we have to divert and find a medical facility?"

I thought briefly of the huge sick bays on Hornett; in a pinch we could go there. I was, after all, the owner of that SSD; surely they'd let us use the facilities there if need be.

However, I hoped Dash would pull out of this without needing more heavy duty help. The longer we had to run about responding to such emergencies, the longer I was being kept from Darra.

"He'll be fine..." Lo Ban finally said...

"I've done all I can for him, rest is the only cure he needs..."

Lo Ban stood, turning to face Galen...

He couldn't help himself...

He swept her off her feet, locking his arms behind her back, he held her there in a playful bearhug...

He started to laugh,"Can you feel it? you intoxicate me..."

He gazed, with steady attention into those beautiful eyes...

Intoxicating? Oh no, not me... it was him. More than intoxicating....

I opened my mouth, trying to find the right words, Dash and Malf and the jawa suddenly lost to the vagaries lurking in the back of my mind.

For the life of me couldn't squeak a word, fearing the emotions were too fresh, too new, and that words could not describe well enough the simple frailty as those emotions slowly blossomed, bit by bit growing into something precious and wonderful.

And then, simply, "I've not known this kind of joy before, Lo Ban."

A strange seriousness hitting the air...

It certainly wasn't important to you on Sullust...

She leaned back onto the cot fastened into the wall...

"You stay on your side, and I'll do the same..."

Not taking her eyes off the pacing Jasyn, she sat there with her arms still folded...

Well, at least he's coherent this time...

AGAIN dreams of my past haunted me... dreams of women, planets, old friends, new friends and LIGHTSABERS?!?
What is going on here? Why did all the people I dreamed about have a LIGHTSABER???

Kriffing bounty hunter. Was probably about to cart me off somewhere when he was interrupted by the Kaminoans...

Jasyn frowned at that as something else struck. Hey, how do you know you are still on Kamino? You've been out long enough for your clothes to dry off...

...so you've been out long enough to be moved somewhere else. Unlikely as it is, it's not IMPOSSIBLE...

A random thought popped up as an addendum to that. Aaron is going to murder you if you’ve lost his Lamby...

...that is, if you ever get the Hell out of here...

He continued to pace, his frown growing darker in tandem with his thoughts.

All he wanted to do was finally find something in life worth pursuing again...

...something that was beyond drinking and escaping reality and meant something...

...and now that he'd found something to fill at least a small gap of time in his life with some meaning it was going to end up like THIS?

Suddenly Jasyn just froze where he was, turned to the nearest wall, and vented his frustrations on it, giving it a good kick and punch. The wall didn’t respond, and it didn’t make him feel much better, but at least it was something to do. He turned then and paced a bit more, then finally gave it up and sat on the cot on his side of the holding cell. He scowled across the way at the bounty hunter, whose arms were still folded...

...and who was still seemingly watching him through those damn unreadable lenses. He folded his arms and practically mirrored the hunter’s image, his dark browns somewhat vague. “Allright fine,” he replied to the hunter’s words then, “But I’m getting out of here somehow while they still appear to want us alive...

...and I know from experience that two heads are usually better than one.”

He said no more than that, and his brown eyes grew a bit distant as memories again took hold of his thoughts. At length he then leaned back, sighing in resignation.

Like THAT will ever happen again...

I let my eyes linger in Lo Ban's a second or two more, then pulled them away from him altogether and proceeded to do my damnedest to don the cloak of another kind of seriousness.

"Dash!" I exclaimed, now kneeling at his side and laying a hand on his chest. I smiled against the pheromones, met his beautiful lavender eyes with my own. Patted him lightly.

"It's ok, Dash, you're safe with us, in space. You didn't come to the new rendezvous, so we figured something had gone wrong, and--"

Now I pulled back and brushed him with an appraising glance.

"Looks like we were right to go back to Kamino and find you. But you're safe now; soon as you're on your feet we'll decide how to approach Kamino again and find my daughter.

"But only when you're better. How do you feel?"

I fell into silence then, the softsound of swishing robes informing me of Lo Ban's approach behind me. Still letting my hand rest soothingly on Dash's chest, I leaned back against Lo Ban and was promptly rewarded as a hand came down to touch my shoulder. Then I just waited while Dash performed his own self-inspection, to start determining just what the heck we were going to do.

I tried to smile, but I'm sure it looked less than sincere, with the waves of agony racing through the upper left potion of my body. "My blaster, I lost it in the fight... I'm gonna need a replacement." I said as I stood up.

"I sure am glad to see you two, especially you GALEN." I embraced her in a 'one-armed' hug. "Did you see me in action? It was like something inside me took over! I can't explain it, but when things started looking really bad, it was like I knew exactly what to do and how to do it! I was even able to block out the pain in my arm for a short time!"

Jealousy was a trait Lo Ban held...

A trait he held passionately... this competitiveness was very much a part of his character...

Yet, for reasons unknown, he completely trusted Galen...

Perhaps it was the closeness, and the bond that tied them that let him know they belonged together... to one another...

He let this first reaction, evident by the look he gave Dash, slip entirely away from his being...

Lo Ban heard Dash's plea for the ship they'd left on the water world,"We will head back to retrieve it, once we find a better approach to finding Galen's daughter..."

His thoughts traveled further...

He had no room for jealousy in his life...

For he had found love...

All right, might as well give in... and get the hell out of this mess..

She hid a built in transmitter on the inside of her helmet, for such an occasion...

The problem was, she'd have to take her helmet off to use it...

Seeing that Jasyn had given up his pacing, and now sat with his face in his hands, she took her helmet off slowly...

The transmitter popped out easily, as she slipped her helmet back on...

Not sure if Jasyn had stole a glimpse of the real her, she simply activated the distress beacon...

I hope those ships I tracked here are still around... and treat a bounty hunter with a little more respect, than one Lo Ban Kenobi...

She sighed at that, waiting...

...and his dark browns flashed up for a moment to realize that the male bounty hunter wasn't male at all...

...and that she seemed vaguely familiar.

Quickly he looked back down, trying to figure out just where the hell he'd seen her before. And there weren't too many places as of late he'd been to see anyone. A Sith city...a couple of bars...

Then realization struck, and that face registered in his brain.

Oh hell. KRIFFING HELL. No wonder she isn't talking to you, what with the idiot you probably made of yourself on Sullust...

Jasyn just scowled, then looked up at the bounty hunter. A long moment passed as he debated over what the hell to say.

Somehow "Sorry I was drunk when I blew you off" didn't seem to cut it.

Too bad he couldn't think of anything else.

"Sorry about back there...on Sullust..."

He hesitated a moment then, frowning. "Is there an Imperial bounty on my head or something now?"

He fell silent then, not knowing if he'd even get an answer or not.

Distress signal... coming from Kamino.

I sighed, now turning back to the others.

"Ummm... someone is in trouble on Kamino," I said simply, then paused. While I really thought returning to that sodden world a third time might be pushing our luck, the thought of someone else being subjected to the tender auspices of whoever in Hell's Seven Circles those goons were made me flinch in sympathy.

Unless it was a trap....

Said consideration I spoke aloud, and was heading back to join the others when I noticed that miserable little jawa cheerfully beginning to help himself to my backup parts cabinet.

"HEY!" I hollered, rushing back and shoving past Lo Ban to get to the little critter before he stole anything. Quick as lightning, and I had him by the collar, caught almost literally red-handed. Close enough for me.... He wiggled defensively in my grasp, crying "OOO-TEE-DEE! OOO-TEE-DEE!" in what I supposed was meant to be a pitiful tone of voice.

It didn't get far with me. Nothing I hate more than a thief... especially a thief whose hiney we had just finished dragging from the fire and back into the pan.

I scowled, still clutching the jawa, waiting for someone to say something. Anything.

And really... really not relishing the thought of a return trip to Kamino, at least not until we had a solid strategy lined up....

At that GALEN scowled and walked off.

"Don't worry about it DINK! When we get back to the SHIMMERING SCIMITAR, you can have all the spare parts for your inventions. And by the way, Thanks for saving me on the landing platform. Without your help, I would have been a gonner." I told him as I patted his shoulder.

I found a MED-kit and a comfy chair. I cleaned my wounds, and then fell into a deep sleep!

Strange dreams I had!!! All in 3rd person perspective. I saw little me, and a group of 3 other children, I seemed to be the only Ch'iss in the group. What strange playmates I had! Wait... not playmates... TRAINING PARTNERS?!? The four children ignited LIGHTSABERS and began fighting each other. Strange, all the blades were of a RED hue. Just as the Twi'lek I was dualing conceeded, a very tall man entered the room. He was dark and OMINOUS... His yellow eyes glowed from under the hood of his cloak.

"FINISH HIM!" the hooded man instructed me!

I raised my LIGHTSABER, and...

I awoke with a start! MALF let out a mighty ROAR as he realized that all of the items in a MED-kit are NOT edible!

"Silly MALF" I said. "We will land soon, I'm sure. I'll even buy you dinner!"

MALF picked me up and squeezed. "HELP!" I yelled. "GET HIM OFF!!! GET HIM OFF!!!"

It wasn't Deja Vu, but there more so from whatever had sent out the cry for help...

"I sense, this cry for help is genuine... although, the importance of plan is important to the reunion of little Darra... this one's up to you, babe..." He said, simply waiting for her to make her decision...

Lo Ban knew he need not express his choice, for Galen would agree with whatever he said...

Am I getting second chance here? Just maybe? Fates know that it's more than mere coincidence you've been thrown in a cell with someone whom you happened to meet at a cantina on an entirely different planet...

...is some god up there trying to tell you something here, buddy?

"If I failed to mention it before...it's nice meeting you...Cartina...

...though it would have been better meeting you when I wasn't drinking...

...or stuck in a holding cell on a damned torrential world..."

What would you have me do, follow you blindly in a futile escape.... probably getting myself killed in the process...

He paused then, thoughtful once more as inspiration struck. "You wouldn't happen to have one of those ships with a remote homing device, so you can call it to yourself...?"

Then a realization jolted him. The Raptor has that tracking device, you idiot. Aaron knows where you probably are. All you've gotta do is let him know that you're in trouble, and he has enough information about the significance of Kamino to put the puzzle pieces together...

He told Cartina as much, then quieted a moment, frowning as the drawback to this idea presented itself. "Of course that won't help us if he's far away and the Kaminoans aren't planning on keeping us around too long..."

He paused another moment, considering. "If we try this I could rewire the transmitter back and we could continue to send an open distress signal...

...but then that opens us up to being found out again..."

Jasyn quieted then, simply frowning. Then he spoke one final thing. "I wonder what these Kaminoans have to hide anyway, that they would throw us in a cell the moment we arrive?"

He trailed, folding his arms and still frowning thoughtfully...

...and wondering if he knew more about what the Kaminoans were hiding than he thought.

I came up to where Lo Ban stood loose and easy, watching the momentary madness brought on by the jittering actions of the little jawa. His gorgeous blue eyes flicked into mine, stayed there as one eyebrow crooked.

I was afraid he would say that....

"Ummm... do we have a plan yet?" I went on, gazing hopefully into those electric pools of his, fighting a sudden impulse to space the passengers so I could have the lamby to myself and my new love; ok, Malf can stay and stand guard, but these damned pheromones just keep sneaking up on me and what's a gal gonna do, and if I catch that little thief in my equipment again I really am gonna space him....

I jerked from the free-flow of thought and forced myself to focus on Lo Ban again... and this time just the body language.

Avoid the eyes, Galen ol' girl; remember what daddy used to say....

Another reality check... and my brain finally cleared enough to read the answer in Lo Ban's expression.

I sighed.

"Ok, so back we go, to see who needs help; maybe we can devise some kind of strategy in the, oh.... what? Four? Five minutes until we hit Kaminoan atmosphere again?"

I grinned shakily and proceeded to my pilot's seat, where I proceeded to turn us around and head back once more to Kamino.

He placed his hands loosely on her hips "Strategy, ey? saddle up, lock and load... that's strategy for ya..."

A grin came to his face,"by the way, do you have any heavy firepower... We can't have Malf weaponless..."

He let out a small laugh, as the contradiction hit him square in the face...

"How long until we get back to KAMINO?" I interupted.

LOBAN, startled, pointed to the view screen...

"Oh, we're there already. At least this time we can do this as a GROUP! Maybe I won't get hurt as bad this time." I winced at the pain as I moved my left shoulder just a little too quickly.

But if they don't want MY help...

I sat there tinkering with my MAGNETO RAY trying to cut down on the recharge time. I made some minor adjustments, and now it only takes 2 minutes to charge instead of 10. Hope this little thing helps. I know Dash is glad I had it!!!

Warning bells went off within Cartina's helmet...

Might as well milk this for all it's worth... but, it will have to wait until we get out of this mess...

"I'm not much for coming up with ideas, so whatever you think would help..." Cartina said, drenching ignorance on each word...

She finally took her helmet off, handing Jasyn the transmitter...

Sheesh, that damned jawa will have every goon out there down our throats at the rate he's squawking....

Then I shut up myself, snuggling a bit in Lo Ban's hold, then devoted my energies to getting us through the wicked weather of Kamino and safely down. I had brought us in over the middle of the vast ocean of which this world was now comprised, barely skimming over the crests of the lashing waves and thus hoping to keep beneath whatever sensors they might be using. The moment we touched down on the landing pad I switched off the engines in the further hope that her heat signature wasn't noticed.

I climbed to my feet then, turning to face the group, a portable tracking device in my hand. A little blue light blinked merrily away upon it.

I cast a glance toward it, then to the group.

"They're in this city," I said unnecessarily, flicking my gaze into each set of eyes before me, but stopping at Lo Ban. I raised my brows meaningfully.

"There are blasters and such in that cabinet to the back," I finally replied to his earlier question, shooting yet another glare to the jawa for it was that particular cabinet that I had caught him with his little testy fingers in.

I nodded to all, then turned back to Lo Ban.

"Into the fray?" I questioned, indicating the open hatch of the lambda with a wave of one hand.

Tossing one each to Malf and Dash, he came promptly came back to the open hatch...

"Out of the frying pan..." Lo Ban led the group out of the Lambda, his own blaster ready for action...

A padawan he was, yet the blaster seemed appropriate for the situation...

They entered the city doors, welcomed by quiet nothingness...

Galen came to the front, leading them to the weakening signal...

There were no guards, only an unlocked door that held it's prisoners within...

The door opened, revealing a man and a woman clad in body armor...

But, not just any woman...

Cartina?!

Lo Ban's face was red as the Tattooine sun... for he saw a ghost in front of him...

Inside, a bounty hunter... female. Mandalorian armor-clad arm held out...

Shades of Sorben! Do they ALL have to wear Mandalorian armor?

...handing what looked like a fully functional transmitter to Jasyn Lancaster.

......

JASYN LANCASTER?

It was a good thing we weren't followed, for I just stopped in my tracks and stood on my jaw.

We came to rescue a bounty hunter and Jasyn Lancaster????

And why in Hell's Seven Circles was that bounty hunter looking at Lo Ban as if she'd seen a ghost...?

For that matter, why was the look mirrored perfectly on his face?

I immediately crouched, my blaster up, although not aimed anywhere in particular. A little chill rippled up and down my spine.

Me and my hunches... but I suddenly had a bad feeling about this....

Cartina knew she couldn't show her true self with so many around...

Lo Ban was quite surprised, yet relieved, as seemingly this woman simply had a likeness to his once wife...

He knew that to be impossible, since she had been dead for years now...

Also, certainly wouldn't be in this mess... dressed like a bounty hunter...

Although, Lo Ban realized he and Galen would need to have a talk about such things once... once she had Darra back...

Lo Ban spoke up, finding new strength,"C'mon, lets get out of here..."

We'd figure things out in the saftey net of space....

And it was telling me that all wasn't kittles n' spit here.

Finally I swallowed, and spoke up.

"You know, that lamby is gonna be a touch wee crowded," I interjected into the little glances being flung around which in turn were battling mightily against the undercurrents I was sensing.

"Dash's ship is still here on Kamino, and it's a bigger one than mine. Why don't we take everyone there, so they can stretch their legs..."

Cartina stood near the back of the shuttle, next to Jasyn...

"Thanks for not giving me away back there, this business will kill me..." She whispered to Jasyn, through her masculine helmet...

With the death of her father by the hands of the Hutts, and seemingly her own, she had grown vengeful...

She had already come to terms with never seeing Lo Ban again, that part of her had died long ago...

The Lambda made a short leap to another city, landing on the pad... Dash's and Jasyn's ships waiting, they exited the Lambda... heading for their own ships...

Cartina followed behind Jasyn, who was nearly half way to the Raptor...

"Give a lady a lift?"

I've always had a weakness for gentlemen, let's just see if he surprises me by being one...

He waited for input from the somewhat distant Galen...

But I had to pause and watch the two. And just as they were entering into Raptor, I hollered out, waving a hand.

"Jasyn!" The name rang out sharply through the driving rain. He paused, turned his head in my direction. Our eyes met across the distance, through the flickering haze.

"You never met me here, ok?"

There was a long moment's pause, and then I simply turned and entered my ship. I fired her up, waiting for Lo Ban to enter so we could get off this miserable excuse of a world and into the cleanliness of space.

From the odd tone of his voice, and the clenching of my stomach, I just knew we had something to talk about, and it wasn't just the logistics of how to find and rescue my daughter....

"That bounty hunter seemed familiar..." He started with, pausing for a few brief moments...

"...I think it was that bounty hunter from the restaurant, on Sullust..." He said at length, wondering just what she was doing on Kamino to begin with...

Also, knowing in the back of his mind that he'd have to explain his past to Galen...

Ruhatt directed the ship torwards a landing pad and started to land.

"I hope we can get in and out." Ruhatt said.

"I don't know. I sense something is going on down there." Jebbua said.

Ruhatt landed the craft and stepped out.

Do you have an extra blaster?" Jebbua asked him.

"Here take mine." Ruhatt replied giving his blaster to him.

He was right. It had been the bounty hunter sitting quietly by herself in "Azure Planetoid."

And now she was here, on Kamino....

I gulped at the implications, not liking any of them. Then the weird frozen moment thawed, and I leaped inside the ship, slamming my hand on the control to the door even as I flung myself into the pilot's seat and forced her into an emergency warm-up.

Little things like temperature control can take care of themselves once we're spaceborne, I thought to myself as the lamby groaned in surprise and jumped off the pad even as the door to the city was sliding open, two stocky Kaminoans framed against the dazzlingly white light of the foyer behind them. The lamby shifted and rolled as storm winds buffeted her; in my haste to depart I had chosen the quickest vector, and that had been the one we had last followed coming in to the planet for the third time. So we flew scarce centimeters over the lashing waves, the wind and rain and occasional bolt of lightning rocking us as though the goons had somehow taken control of the elements themselves to block our escape.

Soon, however, our trajectory steepened, and the shuttle aimed heavenward. Bit by bit the gloom was overtaken by the more brilliant sparkle of the stars, which steadied into a million shining motes about us as we finally tore through the thermosphere and into the freedom of space.

Proximity sensors bleeped for attention, informing me that the others in our party had likewise gained safety. I sighed, slouching in my seat a moment until the wild beating of my heart slowed enough for me to think...

...and thinking brought forward Lo Ban's last words to me again.

My heart accelerated again.

That bounty hunter...?

I shifted in my seat and turned to face him. The shuttle ticked and hummed quietly all about; even Malf's interjecting yowls were not present, for he had joined another ship's complement in our haste to depart.

The guilt building up with each passing moment of silence...

"There's something more..." He dryly began with, now turning to face Galen's loving features...

It was difficult for him to carry on the eye contact, the unjustified shame was great...

Yet, this bounty hunter wasn't his wife... all he was doing was giving Galen an insight to his past, why did he feel so terrible??

He continued,"...there are some things you need to know about my past... before... we go any further..."

He looked deeply into her lovable, and hopefully forgiving, brown eyes...

A new found strength, Lo Ban went on to inform his new love of his once old love on Tattooine...

How they were married there, years ago... and, how she had been slain by the Hutts as was her father...

He explained how he'd never loved another woman... until now...

He couldn't help but lose the eye contact, as he prepared for the last part he must tell Galen...

"and... that bounty hunter bore a resemblance to Cartina... I tell you all, my love... please forgive this situation, for the hunter is not my wife..."

He dared to pin his eyes to Galen's browns, waiting for her reaction to these events...

Married? He was married before... and he thought I wouldn't understand?

I paused in disbelief; then shadows of my past own rose up in quiet accusation. I thought back to Sullust, to when I was spilling my soul to him in turn....

Had I told him everything as well?

I couldn't remember; all I knew was that at the time I needed him to know the depth of possible danger involving oneself with me could lead one to; I know I went on about the Sith and Jharmeen....

I swallowed, and reached a hand out to his face. Cupping it gently, I returned his gaze with a strong one of my own.

"Lo Ban, what's past is past," I began, suddenly knowing that I had some background of my own to spill here and now, if only to refresh his memory in the event it had already been spoken. For a moment my lips trembled; then I surged onward.

"If you recall, you're not the only one to have been married; sheesh Lo Ban, did you think I plucked Darra off a tree somewhere? Have you forgotten K'eel Doba?"

How could anyone forget K'eel Doba...?

Removing myself from the physical reaction those particular images evoked, I went into greater detail of my own past, revealing to him that the then-bounty hunter, Sorben Tarnus, was the father of Darra... leading into Terrin's untimely death, torn from me by the cruel predations of a tuk'ata on a remote and uncharted planet of the Sith. Told him how my love for Sorben, rocky enough as it was, had now settled down into something which was a cross between fear and disgust; the man did "murder" me and his daughter, after all. Went on into what I felt for Terrin...

...and even now was still feeling.

I paused at that, lingering over it, debating. Stared deeply into myself where this sudden new emotion, this slowly growing feeling for another was flailing about within my heart, suddenly under the axe itself.

What I would reveal could endanger its growth indeed, even as Lo Ban had so obviously thought the revelation of his own past might result in the very same thing.

But he deserved honesty from me as well. So I took a breath and went on, hoping he'd understand how I still loved Terrin and probably always would...

Perhaps as much as he still loved his own slain wife?

...then dwindled into silence, keenly aware that the tensions in the shuttle had somehow shifted subtly and that it was now I who sat waiting for the verdict to come down against the judge's podium....

"So much for ghosts in the closet... I understand how you feel toward your late husband, as I am a widower..." He stopped at that, leaning into Galen...

They shared a deep, slow kiss... not of passion, but of shared pain...

No words could overcome this pain, only this act of love... and pain... bonded these two...

I really didn't want to, damn circumstances anyway....

"Lo Ban, back to that bounty hunter," I whispered, closing my eyes even as he moved his head and kissed my nose.

"What on earth was she doing on Kamino?! And with a member of Eagle Enterprises?"

I braced myself then, wanting nothing more than to stop the universe so I could more closely inspect this new level into which our relationship had advanced, but knowing to my chagrine that this clearly wasn't the time for it. Our associates waited our hails, judging from the way that our receiver was striving to gain my attention; and as for said bounty hunter and Mr. Lancaster....

I simply hadn't a clue about that particularly strange situation. All I knew was that bounty hunters as a rule bode no good for anyone, and it was just a touch wee too coincidental that that particular one had been on both worlds our party had recently trod upon.

Logic, ever the smirking beastie that it was, raised a hand and punched me in my virtual side.

Which one of you is she after, Galen? it purred silkily even as I waited for Lo Ban's speculations regarding the same.

And of greater importance...

Why?

"Hey Dash, Galen here," I announced my safe departure -- yet again -- from Kamino. "Sorry for all the rush, but... ahh, well there was a certain somebody we just, er felt it best to remove ourselves from for the moment. And speaking of her...

"Any input as to that bounty hunter down there?"

My unvoiced question of course clearly stating,

Damned pretty looking bounty hunter at that, a shoulder angel--

--or was that a devil?--

--pointed out. Funny how much more of an impression she's made now that you are sober for once...

...or is it simply the fact that you feel alone? And why else would you have given a ride to someone you barely know, a bounty hunter no less, except for the possibility of some real human contact for once?

Jasyn jerked himself from these thoughts, for the first time in a few minutes realizing he was staring into those blackened lenses across the way.

That moment of clarity was long enough for logic to surface as well. A bounty hunter, who approached you on Sullust in a cantina has now been thrown into a holding cell with you on KAMINO of all places and has now asked you for a lift...

...now what's wrong with this picture?

Jasyn knew the likely answer to that. He just didn't want to face it, nor did he want to believe it for some reason unbeknownst to him. Maybe it was just coincidence...

...however unlikely that was.

He jerked himself from those thoughts again. "You never told me, what brought you to Kamino, of all places in the galaxy?"

Quieting at that, his brown eyes genuinely curious and nothing more than that just yet, he waited.

Oh PLEASE don't tell me that the Empire DOES have a bounty on my head after Terrin and I disappeared from the cell on Coruscant...

His thoughts darkened and shifted a bit at that as something else flowed from them. He had to fight with himself to keep from frowning as another puzzle piece presented itself for consideration: Galen, here near Kamino? The obvious then followed:

Maybe it's not YOU the hunter is following...

Like she had told him, there's a time and place for everything...

He considered her question, sitting upright in his seat...

Somehow finding strength to keep his hands, and lips off the redheaded Goddess...

Well, at least long enough to answer...

"Odds are, she's after me... she followed me out of that restaurant..."

He paused, knowing his presence there might be a costly one...

"I don't know why, but we either we deal with the hunter... or... or I find somewhere where I won't be interfering with the retrieval of your daughter..."

His face turned even redder than when he'd first seen what he thought was the ghost of his dead wife...

"Listen, babe... maybe, maybe this isn't the best time for..." Lo Ban reached out for one of Galen's hands, atop the controls...

He lightly squeezed it,"...for this..."

The Endeavor came out of hyperspace on the outskirts of the Kamino system... completely ignoring the three ships in deep orbit...

As a shooting star, it entered the Kamino atmosphere, crashing into the seas with great fury...

With a hurried, "I'll get back to ya, Dash," I flicked off the channel between us and Scimitar and turned my full focus upon Lo Ban.

I didn't like at all what I was reading in his face, or seeing in his eyes.

Or at least thought I was seeing.

Suddenly full of trepidation, I trembled, the white hot bolts of electricity shooting up from my hand where he was caressing it not helping the matter much at all.

"I-- I--" I stammered, trying to find words.

"I'm not afraid of any ol' bounty hunter, love," I finally settled with. Khaandon knows I've dealt with way worse in my day.

His eyes grew into impossible blue pools in front of me; gulping I lowered my head from that look.

Dammit, Galen, not now....

I couldn't help it. I just knew what he was going to ask of me, and I just couldn't bear it. Not now. Not so soon, not when this wonderfulness was just beginning to blossom.

Averting my gaze so he wouldn't see the tears welling up in my eyes, I spoke to the deck of the shuttle.

"I- I'd rather you stayed and helped me find Darra, but if you want to go I won't stop you--"

"How are things over your way? My ship seems untouched. What the hell is going on here anyway? Who did we 'SAVE'??? It all seemed a little too easy to me! In fact, I was wondering why we wven went there in the first place?!?" I said with a little tone of annoyance in my voice.

"And as for the BOUNTY HUNTER... There are a lot of missing pieces in my memory about my past. I think I learn a little more each day. But I swear to you I don't remember doing anything worthy of haveing a bounty placed on my head!!! It actually worries me a little, why was I attacked on SULLUST??? What prompted that??? I have so many questions that need answering! I'm sorry for directing them all at you."

I suddenly had a vision. A vision of my crash on the moon above ORD CARTEL.

I guess my vision lasted a few minutes as I snapped out of it to hear GALEN yelling my name into the com-link.

"Sorry, I must have blanked out for a minute there. I have to go to the moon of ORD CARTEL. There is something there I need to investigate. Will you guys come with me?"

I had made up my mind as to where I must go. I know that GALEN and LOBAN certainly don't OWE me anything, But deep down I hoped they would come with me!

What if this bounty hunter is the first of many??

I'll... we'll meet the bridge when it's time to face that one...

This redhead seems fiery, under all of that beauty and sweetness she shows toward me...

Lo Ban took his free hand, turning Galen's face to him...

Whipping a free tear from her rosie cheek,"...you had me at I'd rather you stayed.. and stay I will, babe... I'll never leave your side... you're strong, I know you can handle it alone... you fill the void within myself... I love you..."

He leaned into her, once again... kissing her soaked cheek, he simply waited for affirmation...

My mouth fell open a little as I just stared up into Lo Ban's face, staring at it as though seeing it clearly for the first time. Days past came drifting up, swelling from my memories, days when we were on K'eel Doba, when Terrin and I were staying there--

oh so briefly happy there!

--and then Lo Ban's arrival... and I remembered seeing him there, but never until now did I really look at him.

Not until now...

He must have loved me then, somehow, crazy as it sounds; this can't just happen that fast, he didn't just mysteriously "pop up" on Sullust, he's got force strength, he's able to track, sheesh Galen, how long has he loved you?

I read the answer in his eyes. Read his worry for me and Darra, the fear of putting us in danger...

...that same excuse I'd used time and time again myself. How wrong it was.

I blinked. Time passed. The comm link blinked impatiently.

I didn't care. He wasn't leaving.

I just reached out and grabbed him, pulling him to me, letting him read my answer in actions... and later, when the time came for the words to be spoken....

The warning before he went to Sullust regarding the bounty hunter looking for Galen when Aaron went to Ord Mantell, whose stolen ship had been emitting a distress signal...

...and then upon Jasyn's and Galen's departure from the Hornett had disappeared as well...

Cartina's appearance on Sullust to Jasyn in the Blue Asteroid...

...her reappearance on Kamino, her suggestion to use the transmitter to emit a distress signal on a world like Kamino, that rarely had visitors...

Jasyn's brown's hardened a bit. She KNEW someone was out there in Kaminoan space all along. She's been USING you...

...and you were so lonely, you let her...

In a move almost faster than lightning itself, Jasyn whirled to the hunter, jerking her helmet off her head before she could so much as blink, purposefully knocking a button on the navboard programmed to open a secure channel with the Eagle as he did so. He then used his other hand to cup the hunters chin, and jerk her face to his. His brown eyes bored into hers. “You can go ahead and kill me,” he spat, anger rising at being so easily used, ”I’m not going to tell you one single thing concerning Galen Danner...” he continued, his voice firm, his grip on Cartina’s chin even more so, all the while hoping that someone on the Eagle was getting the message.

Get the kriffing Hell out of here Galen, while you still can...

Happy she was not, expected this was...

I smile at that, satisfied... I would stand there, overpowering her in stature... not until she gave me the information I seek, would she be released... we stood there, at a crossroads...

Stalemate...

I pulled out of Lo Ban's embrace to the annoying squawk of an incoming transmission. With a sigh, I reached out to silence it--

"I said I'd get back to ya, Dash..."

--and froze when the actual words being spoken came crashing into my ears.

That wasn't Dash. The transmission wasn't from "Scimitar," it was from "Raptor..."

...and that was Jasyn's voice, sirens and warning bells and four-alarm fires fairly screaming in it.

I quietly turned to Lo Ban.

"Guess we know who that huntress is chasing now, don't we?" I finally said.

No more...

She sat there in Jasyn's hand, the waterworks started to flood her beautiful face...

She had never had someone treat her this way...

In this manor... never since her father would scold her over spilt Nerf milk...

her Father...

These were the tears of grief... grief over her Father's death, nearly 4 years ago...

That had been her reason for Hunting, to keep pain at arms length... but, now she didn't know why she did it...

She went limp, unable to shut off her flow of tears...

It had been too long...

Ok, far enough.

...and then reached out and flicked a switch. Eagle dropped smoothly out of hyperspace, about fifty parsecs from Kamino.

I grinned like a sand-panther cornering its dinner, and played a song on the console.

"Watch this, love," I smiled at him, sending us shooting back into hyperspace toward the planet we had just left.

And just before we reverted back to realspace, I reached a hand slyly down to the belt of my Sith flightsuit, and hit a particular button on it.

To an outside observer, nothing had happened... but then we were still in hyperspace. The Eagle fluttered her wings and slackened her pace, and we popped back amongst the stars once again on the edge of Kaminoan space.

Only this time no one could see us, for I had enabled that wonderful Sith light-bending device.

I manipulated the controls, sending us soaring back to the worldwide ocean of its surface, and came to a silent landing on our original landing site.

All seemed absolutely quiet, or at least as quiet as it could with all the rain and thunder and wind.

I turned to Lo Ban, determination firing in my eyes.

"Ok, look," I said. "I'm going in there, and I'm not coming back out until I have Darra. She's here someplace, and I'm just not going to leave without her.

"But you'll have to space the moment I leave; this field--" I pointed to the belt about my waist "--only reaches so far."

I moved up to him then, slipped my hands about his neck, sidled my body close, taking in the wonderfully clean scent of him in great draughts.

"You're a jedi; you will know when we're back out, love," I whispered, reaching up and catching his lips between my teeth. I then let that segue into a deep and meaningful kiss before finally -- and reluctantly -- pulling away.

"I'm depending on you. We, Darra and I, are depending on you..."

Then before he could protest the move I slapped open the hatch and disappeared into the rain. There was a little door that had caught my eye, and sure as Khaandon made lil green worrts I was gonna get into that city without anyone's help but my own.

...or anything else but to have her begin to sob, the tears very geniune for all that he could tell. He slackened his grip on her chin a bit but remained there, letting the tears trickle over his hand and in between his fingers as he continued to simply gaze into her brown eyes...

...her pain-filled brown eyes at that. Still, Jasyn didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t tell her what she so obviously wanted to know...he couldn’t, and he wouldn’t. Nor did he know if this was yet simply a play to get him to give in to her wishes or if his actions alone had been what triggered the sudden crying. But he’d always hated to see a lady cry...

Suddenly, Cartina went totally limp, beginning to slip from her chair. Before he was consciously aware of his response to that, Jasyn found himself on the deck of the lamby, supporting Cartina in his arms as she yet continued to cry.

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from hers.

”I can’t and won’t tell you what you want to know regarding Galen,” he reiterated, his voce this time soft but still very firm in the matter. Then he reached out a hand once more, moving it to lay along the side of her face, bringing her eyes to his once more. ”Please don’t cry anymore...”

She was indeed a strong spirit...

Not waiting for Galen to enter the city, the Eagle lifted off...

Taking the same route Galen had used for stealth, along the waters edge, he took the ship back into a low orbit around Kamino...

He sat in silence, attuned himself to the force...

He could feel Galen, and would anticipate her every move...

I was hoping someone would come rushing out as before to investigate... and was rewarded when the door slid open to reveal a couple more of the stocky Kaminoan goons. The took step out on the landing platform, blasters raised toward the departing shuttle, and stood there in the rain as she fled. Then then muttered something to each other, and went back inside, closing the door behind them.

Of course I had entered the moment they were out on the platform....

She couldn't help herself, she wanted any sort of companionship...

For she too had been lonely for so long...

She tried her best to break free of Jasyn's gaze, and simply hug him...

To let every tear run dry...

He lost focus, when he noticed his robes were intoxicated with her delight...

Lo Ban couldn't help but lose himself in the fragrance...

He licked his lips... she was there, too...

The lips tasted like strawberries, as he now felt her heat... as if she were there, pressed against him...

He had already reached as close as a Force user and non user could ever hope to, he just wondered if Galen could feel the same things he was experiencing...

And, if she did, hopefully it wasn't affecting her mission...

I scowled, shifting as silently as I could. My wait had seemed interminable, even though logic said it probably wasn't much over an hour or so. But an hour of standing in absolute silence, utterly still, can seem an eternity, and it was.

I almost cried aloud when the door finally opened, and the ethereal form of the Greeter came out. She then proceeded to nearly jump out of her skin when unseen hands clasped her about her thin and elegant neck.

"Just take me to the Prime Minister of this city, and you'll live," I growled, trying to sound fierce... and for the most part thinking I was quite successful. The Greeter garbled something unintelligible... then, logical scientist that she was, gave way before my tightening fingers and started walking down the corridor, albeit a bit stiffly.

Soon we came to another door I recognized... which she opened at the touch of an unseen trigger. It slid smoothly upward, revealing another tall and lissome figure sitting within.

We walked in, the door closing behind me. I opened my mouth to speak...

"I have been awaiting your coming, Mrs. Danner," the Prime Minister said smoothly, standing and waving an impossibly slender hand toward a spoon-like chair which came sliding in from nowhere. "Truly this device you have is a remarkable one; I should like to let my scientist have a look at it.

"Now if you would be so kind as to unhand my Greeter, perhaps we can talk like two civilized beings...."

You could have dropped me with a feather. I froze, wondering how in Hell's Seven Circles he had found me out... then decided stealth was no longer a necessary facade to keep up. A flick of one finger, and I popped into being as the light-bending device extinguished itself.

"You have my daughter, a baby girl, red hair, blue eyes..." I began when he lifted a hand against anything else I might say.

"Yes, indeed, and interesting project that one," he said smoothly, all coolness and logic, not a lick of guile in the tone of his voice. "We were to terminate her, but found ourselves unable to follow through with it.

"You'll be happy to know that she is quite safe, Mrs. Danner... even though I regret to inform you that she is no longer gracing our presence here on Kamino."

But, a great trace of despair and disappointment greeted him as well...

Feeling this was the time to re-enter the atmosphere, he did so...

Shortly after, landing on the pad, he waited for his love to promptly exit the doors...

One thing he was certain of, she'd be alone...

Although, not certain if he'd be able to visually spot her, he opened the hatch to the Lambda...

Waiting...

...as well as he knew that he had been alone...

...and that Cartina was here right now, sobbing in his arms, embracing him...

...and possibly seeking someone to comfort her...?

He knew there was much yet to deal with, somewhere in the back of his mind. But for now...

...he returned the embrace and didn’t let go, kissing her lightly on the forehead. He then did nothing more except remain right there with her, solid and sure, waiting for her to calm...

...and waiting for whatever she might do next.

"You wonder how it is we know of your device," he went on out of the blue. Indeed, those words alone -- well, ok, not only; a rushing sensation of-- of-- well, of something before which I suddenly was finding it of the greatest difficulty to keep angry regarding the Prime Minister -- gave me pause, stopped me smack in the middle of the questions I was trying to form.

He went blithely on, as if unaware of the rising struggle within me.

"This place has attracted a great many in its history, Mrs. Danner... a great many. Many races, of many and exotic planets have come unto us, seeking our skills, for we are simply the best at what we do. In turn for the honor, and rewards, we gain in assisting those coming to us, we of course promise nothing but the greatest discretion. And in turn, we learn a great many new things."

Now he leaned forward. His black eyes clamped hungrily on my belt.

"I could be most discreet about your presence here, Mrs. Danner," he went on, the barest catch in his voice indicating his rising hunger about my Sith belt. It only gave me more determination to hold back on him; I scowled, took a step back, and crossed my arms.

"Big jumping opees," I snorted. "So you don't tell peeps I came here. Or you do; I'm shaking in my boots."

Then I stepped forward.

"Tell me where Darra is." I stated flatly. I then shut up.

The Prime Minister's eyes widened.

"Oh my goodness, no, I couldn't do that. That would be breach of contract, a most regrettable loss of discretion on our part. We like our privacy here; we do not need living under threats...."

He then fell silent, his eyes growing flat, as if suddenly realizing he had spoken too much. Then his eyes grew somehow... vague, as if he was listening to someone very far away....

A ripple shot up and down my spine, and it wasn't the nice kind. I suddenly knew down to my very boots that I had quite overstayed my welcome, and if I didn't leave now I just might not ever get away at all.

Those goonies....

I didn't say another word. My hand shot to my belt... and I blinked from sight. A bare half second later, and I was slamming my hand about the doorway, seeking the trigger, finally releasing something... the door slid smoothly upward and I was through it before it had gone halfway. I raced down the corridor then, at length coming to the doorway out onto the landing pad.

Slapped my hand there, and the door opened... to reveal the blessed sight of Eagle perched there in the rain, waiting for me.

I barrelled aboard her, my eyes watery and finding it hard to see, although whether from rain or tears I simply couldn't tell.

The hatch slid closed as I flopped to the deck, hitting the belt and popping into view again even as Lo Ban's sure hands brought the shuttle into departure vector once again... and Khaandon help us but I hoped the final time.

"She- she wasn't there..." I whispered from the deck where I still sat, a lump of sheer despair beginning to rise up and overpower the warmth and love still spreading within me....

Will they never learn...

The Endeavor was completely submerged, Shayla was taken to the highest hatch, and pitched out the side...

Then it hit him, literally, as he felt Shayla's presence near...

For, she was the one that had placed the Kamino ideal into his mind... and he had sensed she was telling the truth...

And, to her knowledge she was...

Back to the hear and now, as Lo Ban reached out... easily finding Shayla atop the waves...

"We're going down, babe, hold on..." He took the ship dangerously close to the watery grave that could be waiting them all...

"Open the hatch love, I've gotta keep this thing level..." Expert pilot that he was, he waited until Shayla was safely aboard...

Hitting the thrusters, they left the atmosphere completely...

"Where to?" He asked simply, wanting more than anything to leave this damned system asap...

...nor was she quite able to focus her mind enough to call upon the Force to heal her. So she remained there, shivering, til at length exhaustion took hold of her and she simply passed out...

No. This wasn't happening, this just COULDN'T be happening....

Of all the people in the universe to suddenly get bailed off of Kamino, it was her.

Her. The one who hangs with my.. my ex-sister. The one who hangs with the Sith.

HER.

I didn't know I was growling. I hadn't a clue that my lip actually curled. If I had fangs they would be bared.

All I knew was that what I needed was time with Lo Ban, time to vent my despair in his love, to seek succor in him for the loss of Darra, to let myself go in simple need before we put our heads together again to try to figure where she was...

AND HE PULLS THIS.

"NO!!!" I shrieked even as I flew to my feet, launching myself at her as if I was a predator and she my walking lunch.

"You're with them! You know about this! She's gone, where did you take her!

"WAKE UP YOU BITCH AND TELL ME!"

Then I couldn't speak anymore for the sheer rage which took over me and my hands clamped about her throat and I was squeezing even as my momentum bore us in a single rolling ball about cold metal of the deck.

But, he knew he had no other choice...

He took Galen up in strong arms,"What are you doing?" he whispered into her ear...

Not willing to let go...

Until, she gave him a slightly legitimate reason for the brutal beating she was handing out...

...and for the simple fact that she really needed air. She began to gasp for it, entirely too worn out to really fight back. Finally they stopped rolling and against some bulkhead, with Shayla simply slamming into it, and Galen atop her, her eyes ablaze. Words registered enough for her to realize that Galen was wanting to know where her daughter was...

...but everything else was pretty hazy, and Shayla was seeing red even as Galen's weight upon her seemed to be removed, the hands about her throat gone. She was still seeing too many stars to know what was going on, so she simply spoke up as best she could. "Tarnus..." she gasped, "took her..." she continued, her voice raspy, "...from Kamino..."

I froze, the vagueness of the Prime Minister's sidelong comment about not wishing to live under threats suddenly turning into understanding of crystal clarity.

Sorben had her... on Coruscant.

She was with her father... in the hands of the Empire.

I sagged, limp, and only Lo Ban's arms kept me from falling to the deck beside Shayla.

He entered course, for Coruscant...

"What'ya say, babe? give it a shot?"

Something flared deep in my eyes again.

"Not with her aboard," I growled, albeit somewhat faintly. Then I shook my head again, and sat up straighter. The movement sent the lambda reeling a bit about me.

I really needed somewhere to go and rest and plan, that's what I really needed.

"No," I repeated. "I'm not going to Coruscant, not now. Not without a plan.

"And not with her aboard my ship."

"As you wish, my love..." Lo Ban triggered the comm...

"Dash, I have a proposition for you... I will give you a companion, for that quest of yours... AND... I'll pay for any expenses, or charges you endure... sound like a deal?" He closed the connection on his side, awaiting a reply...

Lo Ban slid the back of his right hand to the side of Galen's warm, soft cheek,"Will that do, my sweet?"

He again, waited for any reply...

An abrupt sigh escaped from me, and I slumped, leaning into Lo Ban's caress. I reached up with a hand of my own, holding his against my cheek.

"That is just perfect, my love," I finally sighed, tilting my head into his touch, stroking his palm with my index finger and letting my lids droop a little, wishing we were alone....

At least I could kiss that sweet palm, which I did before turning his hand over and replacing the back of it against my face once again. Then I just continued sitting there, relishing the warm touch of that hand as Lo Ban maintained his light caress.

I closed my eyes....

Things seemed to literally heat up for Lo Ban, he longed for Galen's more intimate touch...

Damnit Shayla, even now you're keeping me from feeling that which is so sweet...

He simply leaned back, letting Galen come as close as possible...

For, anything and everything else would just have to wait...

"I've got to go to the bathroom.." Lo Ban said, as inspiration struck...

Galen allowed him to leave their embrace...

He stopped over the unconscious form of Shayla Kartan... taking her into his powerful arms, he went into the small bathroom...

Propping her on a small stool, he closed the door... locking it from the outside...

Genuinely pleased with himself, Lo Ban aggressively approached Galen's sitting form...

My eyes cut to the aft of the shuttle... to the empty deck on the aft of the shuttle.

Another tremor raced through me, and quite suddenly I recalled that sensation that had flooded me so inexplicably when I was facing the Prime Minister.

Jedi--

I simply stood up and went to him then as a moth to a flame, drawn by the sudden heat, seeking that particular warmth that was him....

...water was literally dripping from her body, chilling her further. What she was more aware of, however, was the fact that she needed to tap into the Force, or something terrible was going to happen. She was so cold...

...and so very tired. But she simply had to fight the exhaustion. So she struggled a great deal, keenly aware that no one here had any intentions of helping her, and finally succeeded, drawing the Force's energy into herself and allowing it to entwine with her mind, her heart, and her body, using her one greatest strength in the Force to begin healing herself...and her yet unresponsive son as well. In only a little while she was out cold, by all appearances simply unconscious...

...but in reality in a deep and peaceful healing trance. Her body fell limp from the stool she'd be propped on to curl into a little ball upon the cold decking of the Eagle...

I wasn't sure why DASH was SPACEWALKING... he didn't tell me... he never tells me anything. Like where we are going, what I should do... nothing! He just come in all proud of himself after his successful SPACEWALK, and throws some device at me to analyse.

I only needed a minute to recognize the device. It was designed for TRACKING!

"Mabbi mabo DI DI" I said to him, which roughly translates to 'It's a tracking device.'

"Put your gun away, remember were friends. Not enemys." I said.

I came to an entrance to a very lagre room and walked inside.

"Hello, My jedi friend." Someone said.How did he know i was a jedi. I thought.
"Hello, we come here to ask if we can be refueled and be on our way." I said.

"Someone will help you, but first tell me what bring you to Kamino?" the person said.

"We are looking for some archives and we ran out of fuel." I ansered him.
"Thank you for your time, your ship will be refueled momentarily."

Later...

Ruhatt launched the ship torwards space.
"Hey there is 3 other ships up here." He said.
"what are their names?"

"Don't know. Hey look!" He pointed at one of the ships where a blue guy was walking outside of his ship and picked something off his ship and then went back inside.

"Strange, maybe he needs help getting something. send a message to him." I said.

"Hello, this is Luthan's Quest to unidentified vessel, do you need any help?" Ruhatt said as he drove the ship right next to the blue guy's ship.
we stood there waiting for a reply.

Damn....

...and padded to the control console. I flipped open the channel to Scimitar.

"Galen here, Dash," I began, continuing with, "The one we're sending, or would like to send, to you is a sorta Jedi by the name of Shayla Kartan." I then paused in consideration, recalling his earlier transmission. Biting my lip thoughtfully, I went on.

"You wanna give us a clue as to what might await us on Ord Mantell,?" I finally asked, sniffing as memory rose insidiously up in the back of my head with the image of Sorben and I getting married there. I shuddered that away, thought of Darra being with him and not me, and frowned.

My shoulders slumped.

How in Hell's Seven Circles were we going to get her out of there?

All I knew was that we just couldn't rush off willy-nilly. Perhaps now was the time to go assist Dash; he had, after all, followed through on his promise to help us here... even though he hadn't the chance to actually do much.

Maybe a stopover on Ord Mantell might be just the ticket....

My gaze cut back to Lo Ban, who was merely laying where I left him, directing THE LOOK back at me, a little curl of a smile on his lips.

I shuddered again, albeit for a totally different reason, and jerked away from him, waiting to hear what Dash had to divulge about his planned destination.

Ord Mantell... Orb Cartell... the similarities were striking, to say the least, and when one considered exactly how much of my attention had been given to the first transmission at the time....

Still smiling, I reopened the channel.

"Er, sorry about that Dash... I copy your destination as being Orb Cartell." Even as I spoke the name a starmap popped up unbidden in my head, my mental zoom zeroing in and pinpointing the little body trundling lazily along in its orbit.

I turned back to the comm then.

"Look, can we dock and transfer our, er... our passenger..." I couldn't help but grit my teeth, refusing to even say her name again. I opened my mouth to go on, but stopped with that.

No promises at this point... but at least I knew where it was he was planning on going.

What are you DOING? logic screamed in his head. She's a bounty hunter. A BOUNTY HUNTER! You know damn well you can't do what you've been intending to do all along anymore, not with the risk it would involve, not as long as she remains with you...

So you're back to square one, buddy. No purpose...nothing to do...

...or are you?

That particular thought seemed to bring Jasyn full-circle. He turned his browns back to the ones now beginning to dry in front of him and for another long moment simply gazed into them. Then he stood, helping her to her feet as well, keeping her close til he was certain she was steady, avoiding the raging testosterone responding to her proximity and those wide brown eyes of hers. Lonely scoundrel though he was, Jasyn wouldn't dare take advantage of her in a moment when she might be overly vunerable.

If something was ever going to happen between he and Cartina...

...or he and anybody else for that matter...

...he wanted it to be real, and not the byproduct of roused emotion alone. After all, better to be a lonely scoundrel than a miserable jerk...

"So, where to?" he queried, still fairly softly. "Or should we...

...we...?!

...stay and see just what the hell is going on here at Kamino?"

Quieting at that and waiting for indication that Cartina was completely steady on her feet and in control of her senses again, Jasyn's mind returned to that purpose he'd been seeking in life as of late...

...and that thing that he was doing to try to fill it. That's when an obvious question finally registered...

...and he couldn't help but blurt it out. "And who the hell has a bounty on Galen Danner's head anyway?"

Allright, so he didn't expect an answer. But he sure as hell hoped he'd get one...

Hadn't Lo Ban offerred to pay passage for her? Hadn't he offerred to pay expenses?

Pay? The man has credits for such things???

Didn't I tell Dash she was a jedi -- sort of, er... at least I think so --? Didn't I give him her name?

All the repressed despair over my fear of never seeing Darra again exploded within me at that, curling about itself until it found the means to make itself known... as nothing more than sheer misdirected anger.

"FINE!" I snarled into the comm. "We'll just keep her locked up in the head until we can find a handy place to take her. Good luck on Orb Cartell!

Eagle out!"

I hurled myself into the pilot's seat at that, still snarling to myself.

Never did like this quadrant of space much anyway, I sour-graped myself as my fingers danced along the navigation board, keying in another destination.

Damn if I could think of any place better to take the woman but Sullust...

Space erupted into the beauty of hyperdriven lines, as Eagle spread her wings and knuckled down into serious flying again....

((OOC: Follow Galen, Lo Ban and Shayla into The Lion's Den in "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

"may I ask where you are going? And we would be happy to come along." I released the button.

Ruhatt looked at me.

"But I thought we..."

"We won't get on Corcasant for a while and since we have nothing esle to do why not."

Well, you can but i'm going back to Sullest to live peacefully."

"Fine." I pushed the button again. "Make that just one person. my friend doesn't want to come along. If thats ok with you. since we are already next to you I can make the transfer now." I said to Dash waiting for what he would say

"Hi, name's Jebbua." I said as i extended my hand for a handshake.

I motioned to the co-pilots chair, "Have a seat."